Yes. It’s a step toward fixing a global crisis
In October 2019, the hole in the ozone layer was the smallest it has been since it was detected. Yay, right? It’s been 35 years since the hole was discovered, sparking the scientific community to sound the alarm.
Two years after its discovery, global governments came together to ban the ozone-depleting substances. What does this have to do with banning single-use plastic?
When science confirms that a substance poses a severe and sustained threat to human health, biodiversity or the planet’s ability to support us, the only logical thing to do is to eliminate the threat.
Two years ago, the UN declared plastic pollution a global crisis, not just a threat. This declaration came more than 40 years after plastic pollution was first identified and more than 30 years since discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch brought real attention to the issue.
Since the UN declared a “war on ocean plastics” in 2017, Canada has produced more than six million tonnes of plastic waste, about 60,000 tonnes of which has become pollution.
Single-use plastics like bottle caps, bags, bottles, straws, cigarette butts, wrappers, cups, lids and styrofoam pieces make up the bulk of the plastic found in Canada’s environment annually. From wind to leakage during transport and overflowing bins, they end up in nature.
The thing is, most people aren’t litter bugs and try hard to recycle.
Only about nine per cent of Canada’s plastic waste is recycled. Most goes to landfill (86 per cent) and some is burned. Many single-use plastics are theoretically recyclable. They’re accepted in blue bins, at recycling depots, or even as part of extended producer responsibility programs that can make producers more accountable for ensuring collection and recycling. But none of these efforts are putting a dent in our plastic waste problem.
But can’t we just improve plastic recycling and ensure it’s all recyclable? Not at current massive production levels, or with global production set to double by 2030.
Whether it’s bottles made of recycled plastic content, or a new coffee lid touted as recyclable, this famous “R” is not going to cut it. So it’s time to focus on the less utilized but more effective “R”: reduction.
National and provincial polls conducted in 2019 found that the majority of Canadians want to reduce single-use plastics and support banning it altogether.
No wonder. Plastic is everywhere. It has been found in drinking water, sea ice, soil, air and food chains, so chances are, few among us are plastic-free. It has even been found in beer (I know, not the beer!). What it’s doing to nature is heartbreaking. More than 700 different types of marine species have been affected, even animals at the oceans’ greatest depth.
Plastic ban opponents may say, “That’s an ‘over there’ problem, not a ‘here in Canada’ problem.” Well, tell that to the recycling centres that are stockpiled or closing because the global recycling market has crashed, or to the scientists who found that 87 per cent of seabirds in Canada’s Arctic contain plastic and the 30 million people who rely on drinking water from the Great Lakes — water bodies with higher plastic concentrations than the Pacific Garbage Patch. We also (shamefully) ship plastic waste to countries in the Global South, so we’re directly contributing to trash “over there.”
Single-use plastics bans are happening around the world because they’re now unavoidable.
We need a system reset and to start to get at the real source of the problem: our throwaway culture. There is a reuse revolution happening all around us, and focusing on reuse product delivery models and products replacing singleuse plastics can help us avoid any “unintended consequences” that opponents often threaten to maintain our destructive status quo.
Similar to ozone-depleting substances, plastic degrades very slowly and accumulates in our environment.
Scientists expect the ozone layer to fully recover by 2070, when the polluting substances are finally gone. If we stop producing problematic plastics now, plastic will still be in our oceans by at least 2520, but less of it. Every day without a ban creates tonnes of pollution.